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In light of Russia’s continuing war of aggression against Ukraine, and the reported atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine, the Council decided on 8 April to impose a fifth package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia. The package will prevent Russian vessels and trucks from accessing the EU, with exceptions made for oil, gas, food and medicines. The package includes:

• a prohibition to provide access to EU ports to vessels registered under the flag of Russia. Derogations are granted for agricultural and food products, humanitarian aid, and energy.
• a ban on any Russian and Belarusian road transport undertaking preventing them from transporting goods by road within the EU, including in transit. Derogations are nonetheless granted for a number of products, such as pharmaceutical, medical, agricultural and food products, as well as road transport for humanitarian purposes.
•  further export bans, targeting jet fuel and other goods such as quantum computers and advanced semiconductors, high-end electronics, software, sensitive machinery and transportation equipment, and new import bans on products such as: wood, cement, fertilisers, seafood and liquor.
•  a prohibition to purchase, import or transfer coal and other solid fossil fuels into the EU if they originate in Russia or are exported from Russia, as from August 2022.
•  a full transaction ban and an asset on four key Russia banks, following their removal from the SWIFT network.

The new package needs to be formally adopted by Member States via a written procedure before its publication to the Official journal of the EU, which is likely to happen early next week.

Source: Council of the EU